A One Hanford contractor partnership has developed a new process to ensure radioactive and chemical tank waste is ready for pretreatment quickly and efficiently at the Hanford Site.
Office of Environmental Management
August 20, 2024
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A 222-S Laboratory chemical technician tests a tank waste sample.
RICHLAND, Wash. — A One Hanford contractor partnership has developed a new process to ensure radioactive and chemical tank waste is ready for pretreatment quickly and efficiently at the Hanford Site.
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management contractors are focusing on improving waste sample analysis and increasing efficiency of future tank waste treatment. They include Navarro-ATL, operator of the site’s 222-S Laboratory, and tank operations contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS).
In a new approach, lab workers will analyze samples from the tank waste staged to be processed in the Tank-Side Cesium Removal System (TSCR) much earlier in the process. This reduces the amount of sampling required and accelerates the process of qualifying the waste for processing through TSCR.
"This is a substantial improvement to the waste qualification process,” said Delmar Noyes, Hanford assistant manager for Tank Waste Operations. "It will significantly increase the amount of feed available and reduce cost by cutting the amount of sampling needed in half."
A 222-S Laboratory worker analyzes a waste sample from one of the Hanford Site’s underground waste storage tanks.
Lab staff will analyze the chemical makeup of waste samples gathered by WRPS to determine if the waste is suitable for processing through TSCR.
Sampling waste before it is transferred to the tank that feeds TSCR will ensure that enough waste is available to be processed, and ultimately delivered to the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant. There, it will be immobilized in glass for safe disposal.
“In future 24/7 tank waste treatment operations, our volume is expected to quadruple to about 40,000 samples per year,” said Ray Geimer, Navarro-ATL general manager. “Anything we can do to improve efficiency and speed is critical to support tank waste treatment.”
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